


Our Very Own Hidden Garden

by MeredithBrody



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-19
Updated: 2014-01-19
Packaged: 2018-01-09 07:58:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1143498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeredithBrody/pseuds/MeredithBrody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Erika finds an all but hidden and ignored courtyard at Starfleet command, she uses it to her own advantage.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Our Very Own Hidden Garden

The one thing that was the problem with their current position as two of the higher ranked admirals in Starfleet was that they had to go to these ridiculous gatherings. At least they could generally get away, either just by leaving for a while or by claiming a childcare emergency with their toddler and escaping. Today she had something else planned. It wasn’t just that she didn’t want to be at this thing, she wanted to spend some extra time alone with her husband while they had it. So she found him with one of the Ambassadors, and stepped up to them quietly. Waiting until the ambassador had finished his point to speak. “Excuse me.” She smiled to the Tellarite ambassador, then slipped her hand into Jon’s and leant over and whispered in his ear. “Want to do something fun?”

Jon grinned and wrapped his arm around her back as she stepped closer to him. They tended to be ignored when they were stood together at events, if only because some of their Federation partners were far more private in their marriages than humans tended to be, at least in Erika’s experience they were. “What are you thinking, Rike?” He asked after taking a few seconds to consider what she was saying.

“Do you trust me?” She asked seriously, not because the answer was going to change much, but that because no matter what she didn’t want to have to explain why she was pulling him through headquarters if he was looking around for the catch. Seeing if he’d let her guide him would make things go a lot quicker.

Jon blinked a couple of times looking at her, clearly realising she was planning something. “Of course I do.” He muttered quietly, clearly aware of everyone around them. She just grinned and gave a sly look around, making sure that nobody was paying them a second glance and held her hand out to him.

He looked between it and her for a second before she realised she hadn’t explained what she was planning. She still wasn’t go into detail. Not when she’d actually put thought and planning into this surprise. “Take my hand, close your eyes and let me lead.” She smiled as he did her first two instructions, but hesitated on the third, only taking small steps.

“Rike, I’m not dancing.” He complained a few seconds later, and she just stopped dead, shaking her head in his direction before remembering that she’d told him to close his eyes.

She instead reached forward and tapped his nose lightly the same way she did with Serena to stop her doing something silly. “Jon. You said you trust me, and I know your aversion to dancing.” She reassured him again. After trying to dance with him at their wedding she wasn’t going to put herself in that position again. She liked being able to feel her toes. She managed to pull Jon out of the reception hall and along the corridor, back into the more working side of command.

“I’m not sure I like this idea.” Jon muttered a few minutes later as she was still guiding him through the slightly deserted halls. Everyone was either at the reception or was working in their offices. Leaving this part open for her to do what she had planned.

She squeezed his hands and pushed open a door, guiding him through it. Another corridor, and by this point she was fairly sure even with his eyes open Jon wouldn’t know where they were. She wasn’t taking any chances though. “Just come with me. Keep your eyes closed.”

“Erika.” He groaned, though she wasn’t sure if it was out of impatience or worry. Possibly both knowing him. He wasn’t fond of having his eyes closed, so she picked up the speed, wanting to get them to her selected destination as quickly as she could.

“Just trust me.” She kept directing him around anything she saw until she pulled him to a stop. She was glad that her earlier decorations had been left in place, hopefully meaning that either nobody had found this space, or if they had they’d left it alone. They were in a well lit courtyard at the back of command. Well hidden from everything, and no windows and seemingly no doors leading to it. She had discovered it while Columbia had been being built, and she remembered it spending years wondering if anyone else had even known about it. The door was quite cleverly hidden, on both sides, but pushing it lightly caused it to open. “OK. Open your eyes.” She instructed and stepped back to watch him.

He just span around on the spot at first, just looking around at the twinkling lights she’d spent most of the previous day ignoring her work to put up. She started grinning as his face split into a smile, and she wondered exactly what was running through his mind right now. These gestures through their relationship were so rare that it was hard for her to even remember the last time one of them had done something like this. She took a few steps closer to him after a few minutes and slid her hand up his arm, bringing his attention back to her. “Where are we?” Was his first question, and she couldn’t help but smirk a little at it.

“Hidden away, somewhere safe, and quiet.” She held her arms out beside her, indicating the space around them where they were completely isolated from everything the other side of those walls. “I needed to get away from the party, and I wanted to bring you with me.” She smiled at him with a shrug. It was never as much fun escaping from something alone. She prefered bringing him with her whenever she could.

He took hold of her hand and went back to looking around, looking up to the open sky before he asked another question. Not really what she’d been hoping for, but the soul of an explorer ran deep. “How did you find this?”

“So many questions.” She chuckled, and he looked at her seriously for a second before stepping closer to her.

“I want to-” He began, but she’d had enough. This wasn’t the time for talking, not in her mind at least. They had plenty of time to talk any other day of their lives. Right now she wanted quiet.

She put her finger on his lip and smiled as he fell silent. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and she just ran her fingers through his hair. Enjoying a few seconds of silence. “Jonathan.” She said a few moments later, resting her forehead against his as he leant down a little. “Stop thinking and kiss me. This could be the only alone time we get.” She grinned, not needing to remind him that they had a toddler at home, and too many commitments to avoid for long. So being alone anywhere was what they needed, and was a luxury they couldn’t afford to let pass them by, and she wasn’t going to let this go to waste.


End file.
